Beginning in the early 1980s and extending to the present day, the use of teams in or- ganizations has increased dramatically. Or- ganizations have and are continuing to re- structure work around teams rather than individual jobs (Ilgen, 1994). In parallel, the need and demand for theoretical and empirical research on team functioning has intensified. Past reviews of the literature on small groups and teams note considerable growth in the volume of team research over this same time horizon. However, as Levine and Moreland (1990) indicated, “[teams] are alive and well, but living elsewhere.” The health of team research is strong, but those who have traditionally focused on small groups are not fueling the evolution of team research (Ilgen, 1999). Rather, those working in organizational behavior, speech communications, political decision making, and education are now driving the increased emphasis on teams (McGrath, 1997). The domains of organizational be- havior and industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology have served as the princi- pal caretakers of team research and, over the last decade, have made considerable strides in advancing knowledge on team functioning. Despite the proliferation of teams em- bedded in organizations (Ilgen, 1999) and significant advancements in team re- search, teams still do not serve as a central element in the extensive base of literature BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN I/O RESEARCH AND HR PRACTICE: IMPROVING TEAM COMPOSITION, TEAM TRAINING, AND TEAM TASK DESIGN Human Resource Management, Winter 2004, Vol. 43, No. 4, Pp. 353–366 © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/hrm.20029 John R. Hollenbeck, D. Scott DeRue, and Rick Guzzo This article identifies a series of critical gaps between the scientific body of knowledge on team functioning and actual HR practice regarding teams. These gaps span across the areas of team composition, training, and task design. The article then discusses specific theoretical and methodological advancements from recent team research that address each knowledge gap. In other words, what does the scientific literature suggest about team composition, training, and task design, and how does the scientific knowledge compare to actual HR practice? The applied implications and implementation issues associated with each of these knowledge gaps are also discussed, using the scientific literature as a foundation for developing specific recommenda- tions.. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Correspondence to: John R. Hollenbeck, Michigan State University, N475 N. Business Complex, East Lans- ing, MI 48824, tel. 517-355-2413, jhr@msu.edu